The NBA Reveals Award Finalists & Victor Oladipo Is Up For ‘Most Improved’

Who deserves the hardware?

The second annual NBA Awards have finally been announced and are going down on Monday, June 25 at 9 p.m.

Last year was the inaugural award show, which was hosted by Drake. He reveled in the chance to crack tons of jokes on the audience, including one about rookie Markelle Fultz: “Rookie Markelle Fultz says he almost signed with Big Baller Brand before he eventually signed with Nike. When asked what changed his mind, Fultz said, ‘I went to college.’”

While the host of this year’s awards hasn’t yet been announced, the categories are out. The honors up for consideration are Kia NBA Most Valuable Player, Kia NBA Rookie of the Year, Kia NBA Sixth Man Award, Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Kia NBA Most Improved Player and NBA Coach of the Year.

The much talked about regular season MVP will likely go to James Harden, as his Houston Rockets are currently in contention in the Western Conference Finals with the Golden State Warriors and he’s stepped it up as a leader this season with the helpful addition of Chris Paul. But by far the most highly argued award this year is who should win rookie of the year. Ben Simmons, who sat out his entire first season, is the easy favorite, but Donovan Mitchell isn’t too far behind. Jayson Tatum hasn’t had the same exposure as the other two, but he is the last rookie starter standing.